HTC 10- know it better

Once just an OEM to big names likes Dell and HP, HTC has emerged and evolved. Since last 5 years, it has created its niche in the list of top smartphone manufacturers. It has launched a wide range of Android smartphones high in demand.

Despite some agitations in the company about the revenue from the smartphone market, there seems no setback for HTC to surprise us. In the last couple of months, it has instigated 7 smartphones in India.

HTC took its time to gift us its flagship HTC-10. The phone seems impressive. Let's know what all it has in store for us....

Phone Framework

# Build

Right from dawn, HTC phones have been known for stupendous aesthetics. HTC-10 follows the convention. The build of the phone astonishes.

It has a well-chiseled body made up from a single block of Aluminium. The body finish is super smooth, can even cause slides from the hands. Backside has a wide sloping edge smiling to the lights. Edges around the screen are intense. Separate slots have been provided for microSD and SIM. Volume and Power buttons are concocted with good touch identification. The power button is trimmed to locate without having a view. The backside of the device is also slightly curved.

The bottom of the device houses a 3.5 mm headphone socket and a USB Type-C Port assisting 3.1 Gen 1 speeds for rapid data transfer.A Camera lens is bumped but shielded with a metal ring. We can expect a data cable and a Quick recharge 3.0 compatible adapter and a headset as accessories.

The phone display is curved at the edges and near the earpiece and the Capacitive Home Button. Backlit navigation keys adjoin the Home Button. Also a fingerprint sensor.

Specifications

The 145.9x71.9x9mm phone weighs 161 gms. The power is the best available. It has Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad-core 4GB as RAM and 32 GB flash memory. It provides category 9 LTE speeds for most 4G bands. It provides a Bluetooth 4.2 NFC, a dual-band Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac, USB OTG, and GPS. FM radio is not absent. The device has a 12 Ultrapixel 2 cam with laser autofocus sensor accessorized with a dual tone LED flash. Front cam is 5 megapixels with larger pixels (1.34um) and aperture (f/1.8).

Features

HTC's sense user interface is basal and classier than normal Android Marshmallow. The interface is clean and simple.

Right swipe from home screen opens Blinkfeed which gives news snippets fr0om twitter and news apps, and an option to sync other apps. Long press the home screen to change the theme from classic to freestyle. Freestyle adds decorative features to the screen.

Boost+ app automatically cleans junk files to recover storage at intervals set by us. General google apps are provided and a Zoe Video Editor. Data can be transferred to it from our last Android or i-Phone. The device has HTC connect for streaming media and motion launch gestures to access features with off screen. It supports HTC mini+ and HTC Boomsound.

Performance

HTC-10 seems almost flawless Android device to be used. With excellent call quality and smooth touch and processing, the phone seems to be quite an asset. There is no overheating issue on regular use but just a bit of heating while using the camera. The interface stumbles a bit but the problem is rare.

The earlier HTC devices had a camera issue which no more exists in HTC-10. It still is not comparable to other devices but is definitely better than earlier self-devices. Sticking to its Ultrapixel technology gives a large pixel size and larger aperture accompanied by OIS and a laser autofocus. Sensors do a fine job.

Landscape shots in daylight give good results with a slight aberration. Macros lack punch only when cropped. Large aperture leads to an excellent Bokeh-effect. Cam results in darker areas are also quite good.

The camera app is interactive and easy to use. It has features like Zoe Camera, Panorama, and Pro modes. There are some unnecessary warnings and some issues with the light metering system. Video recording is fine works up to a resolution of 4K. Hyperlapse and Slo-Mo videos look great. It is the first device to deploy OIS for the front camera. It can shoot pretty good selfies.

The 3000mAh battery can last for a little above 8 hours for continuous video usage. It was a bit less than expected but apart from that, the battery performance is quite decent. HTC-10's Qualcomm quick charge takes our battery to 50 percent in half an hour.

Concluding

Being priced a whopping 52,990 INR, HTC-10 even despite being such a charmer makes us think twice. On some grounds, the phone seems perfect and on some, it fails to impress. Moreover, we have pretty much low price alternative if we choose One Plus. Hence on the grounds of affordability, this device is on slippery grounds.

Despite having a top-notch look and software package, it’s a tough recommendation owing to the availability of other less expensive options.